Christopher McQuarrie Interview: Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part 1

It's not often you destroy a city on film and get a hero's welcome, yet that's the scenario Christopher McQuarrie found himself in when he turned up to the Italian capital city of Rome for the worldwide premiere of the latest installment in the most thrilling action franchise on screens these days, Mission: Impossible. Speaking with Collider's Steve Weintraub at the premiere of Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One in Rome, McQuarrie admitted his slight surprise at being allowed back into the city — and, indeed, the country — after the chaos caused by Tom Cruise, Hayley Atwell and a little yellow Fiat 500 by the name of Trixie.

That said, he hoped the action set piece did also allow foreigners to see the beauty of the city, even if shot in a blur! When asked if he's surprised they let him back into Rome, McQuarrie said: "Just a little, yes. Things got a little out of hand, but we're always very, very careful, and we're always here to celebrate the culture and to celebrate the places that we visit, and I think they took it in the spirit it was intended — I hope!"

Double or Nothing

Weintraub asked McQuarrie about the reports he might not return after the success of Mission: Impossible - Fallout, only to see the director return for not just one, but two sequels. McQuarrie confirmed that while reflecting on his work on the previous two Mission films, they wanted to give the characters more to do, while bringing more emotion to the franchise — and that they simply couldn't do that while under the timing constraints of a single film, even if it ended up with a bloated runtime.

The addition of characters like Rebecca Ferguson's Ilsa Faust, an equal for Ethan Hunt in every way, and Vanessa Kirby's mysterious Alana Mitsopolis aka The White Widow added depth to an already-stacked roster of talent, and spending more time with these new friends — or foes — gave the production team no choice but to allow the film to breathe by doubling down.

"Well, we knew with Fallout. Fallout really grew because of all the character and emotion we were putting into the story, all the things that we had discovered in [Mission: Impossible -] Rogue Nation that was so unexpected," said McQuarrie. "I knew I wanted to expand the cast, and I knew I wanted to give each one of those characters more to do, so I knew the movie was going to be bigger and longer than Fallout."

"And at which point I said, 'Why are we fighting this? Why are we going to try to jam this into two hours? Let's just break it in half and make it two movies.' That really was the rationale behind it being a two-part movie. It just it wasn't just that the story was bigger but that we wanted more emotion in the movie," he continued.

And that meant going to Paramount Pictures to negotiate — we'll give you two for one, but you're going to need to help us out here. And thankfully for McQuarrie and co., they were only too willing to do so — even if it meant a very long shoot, during a global pandemic, with difficult days and a lead actor who never let his director forget whose fault it was when the days dragged on! "At that time, the studio were actually very genuinely excited about it," McQuarrie said. "And, you know, I think we were excited about it too. And then there were times when we were on set, and Tom would look at me, and he'd say, 'This was your idea. Just remember that.'”

Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One hits theaters on July 12, 2023, while Mission Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part Two comes on June 28, 2024.

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